Kora Aamba Achhar or Grated Mango Pickle

The summer is slowly slipping away. Probably this is the best summer after my childhood. The little man is running, the park times are increasing and we wait for the evening to come so that we go on long walks and play. This is exactly what I had imagined at my Lamaze meditation sessions during pregnancy, which is indeed fun to live.

With all these playing time and fun with sun, I tried my hands with the pickling. The association of summers and pickles in Indian homes is age old. When you are miles and miles away getting homesick, what better than recreating those memories. Generally, when it comes to pickle, we have our choices and without any hesitation, we have different pickles stacked and used accordingly. But this pickle I made this summer is very close to my heart as it’s again a Grandma special one.

I remember she was a minimalist, utilizing everything and avoiding any possible wastage. She cooked with peels of the vegetables, managed to create a lovely kitchen garden with the scrapes and wastes. Can you imagine she never ignored and unpick anything falling from the trees? Grandma was more vigilant when it came to any food related resources. She believed in absolute non-wastage even though all those days in the village, she had an abundance of everything. And Granny also used to share everything that was in excess.

My maternal grandparents’ house is blessed with  a mango orchard, which has enough variety and lovely shade to enjoy the tropical  summer. The grated mango pickle she made was from the tender ones which would fall from the tree before actually ripening. Jumping of monkeys or rain showers or massive winds would make these ones fall. Generally, she used to make this pickle during Indian spring, sometime around March.  Every evening she would take a tour of the orchard and collect all the tender mangoes lying on the ground and make this instant pickle. And as much as I remember, even if she made a full canister, we would consume it within a day or two.

Back here in the States, I don’t have the luxury of a mango orchard or picking the fallen tender mangoes. I had to go with the green mangoes from the grocery store. These mangoes were absolutely tart giving the proper flavor to my pickle.

Here goes the recipe of the Mango Pickle:

Ingredients:

1. Raw Green Mangoes – 3 large sized
2. Green chillies – 30 count
3. Garlic – 2 large sized
4. Yellow mustard seeds – 2 tbsp crushed
5. Mustard oil – 2 cups
6. Salt – generous handful

Steps of Preparation for Mango Pickle:

1. Wash the ingredients and towel dry all till the last drop of water vaporizes.
2. Peel the mangoes and grate it.

   

3. Crush the garlic using mortar pestle and add to the grated mango.

   

4. Add the coarsely ground yellow mustard.

   

5. Remove the stems of the chilies and slit it in the middle, make sure the parts remain intact and appear as whole.

   

6. Heat a pan and add 2 tbsp of mustard oil and fry the chilies till shiny, but make sure not to cook them.

   

7. Add the chilies to the grated mango.
   
8. Heat the rest of the oil to a medium temperature for about 3-4 mins.

   

9. Add the heated oil and the salt and give it a quick stir to coat all the ingredients in the mango uniformly.

   

10. Then store them in sterilized air tight jar.

    

You can enjoy the pickle instantly with a warm bowl of Dal Rice or as an accompaniment to the fried fritters. But the Pickle tastes the best within a week. For longer storage you can refrigerate it.